Coming Out
by Lizziginne
Summary: Harry is getting older and his children are growing up, this is a story about Josh, his youngest son. H/N L/J Other characters. For Charlotte's birthday, I'm very sorry its late.


**Lalalala, I've finally finished this, and Charlotte I am so sorry it's late, I've basically been writing this all my holiday (yes I'm sad and write on holiday, but it's great!) It's ridiculously fluffy and includes a couple of my characters from **_**Tell Him**_** which it may help if you have read.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, well apart from the kids and Lorenzo.**

* * *

**May 12****th**** 2026**

**4:17pm**

**1 Missed Call from "Your Sexy Boyfriend"**

You laughed. No matter how many times you had changed that, he always managed to change it back. Maybe that was your eldest daughters fault. Ivy and her Uncle Lorenzo, your wife's best friend's partner, liked to fiddle with your iPhone 15G that you had purchased at its launch a month previously.

**1 Photo message received from "Your Sexy Boyfriend" Do you want to open?**

You tapped yes and a photo of your youngest child, your son Joshua appeared. He was dressed in his cousin's bridesmaid dress from your wedding 12 years ago. He looked hilarious, dressed in a puffy, frilly, baby pink dress. He was very, very cute though. 5 years old and in a little dress, this was something you'd show at his wedding in years to come.

You called Lorenzo.

"Hey, Hot Stuff!" He answered. Nikki had said he had had a crush on you since he met you in a bar whilst he was out with Nikki. He'd called you "Fucking hot!" that first time you'd met and ever since he'd called you "Hot Stuff", "Straight Boyfriend" or "Sexy". Nikki found it hilarious, she'd didn't care as long as she got you forever. And you agreed.

"Hey Lorenzo, What is my son doing in Anna-Maria's old bridesmaid dress?!" He giggled.

"He was going upstairs to play whilst the girls and I played on the Xbox. He must have found his way in to her old wardrobe, and put it on himself. When he came downstairs he had it tucked in to the back of his pants. Ivy is still in hysterics!"

"Must run in the family then!" You laughed. "My Mum has a photo of me in her heels, a skirt and my Dads Elvis t-shirt aged about 4!" You could vividly remember trying to walk in the heels and falling down the stairs in to the kitchen.

"Harry?" Lorenzo's voice was dead serious. "Why aren't you gay? Cian wouldn't mind sharing me with you, or you could join us?"

"I'm happily married, mate. 4 kids as well; one of whom is currently in your house in a dress!" You laughed, he'd asked this question a million times over. And every time the answer was the same, you had your Nikki, that was never ever going to change. "On that note, when do you want me to pick Ivy and Josh up?"

"Well, we've just finished playing Call of Duty 9 so..."

"So, now then? Just leaving."

* * *

**10****th**** December 2034**

**11:03am**

"Harry? The school just rung. We need to pick Josh up."

You'd literally just walked in the door. It had been a long night on call. A particularly nasty heatless body had been found in an underground carriage just as the driver checked the train before leaving at 5:30 this morning. You'd been looking forward spending the day in bed with Nikki. You'd had a tough couple of months, letting the twins go. They'd started university in the September. Isabella was at oxford studying Modern History and Anthropology and Jamie had gone to Edinburgh to study Pharmacy. 4 years ago you would have thought he'd be doing medicine, it wasn't like he didn't have the grades, but he'd shadowed Nikki at work for a week. He couldn't stand the blood, the sick, and the dead bodies. He absolutely loved t6he pharmacy course but he was struggling to settle in being so far away from home, away from his close knit family, especially his twin sister.

So not to have the peace and quiet you'd hoped for was a slight let down.

You kissed Nikki gently on the lips, hugging her, telling her that you'd get your planned day in bed another day.

You drove to your son's school and parked in their car park. Walking in to the office you told them that you were here to pick up Joshua Cunningham. The lady behind the desk asked if you were his grandfather. It was times like these you almost regretted having Josh so late. You didn't look that old but your hair was greying and your wrinkles were becoming more pronounced. The woman blushed, looking embarrassed, as you told him you were Josh's father and were here to take him home. She nodded, and told you to take a seat before picking up the phone.

"Come with me." She instructed.

You followed her to the headteachers office. As she opened the door you saw your son sitting on the sofa, holding an ice pack to his face.

"Josh? What happened?!" You were shocked. None of your other children had ever been in a physical fight. Yes, Jamie had been in a few shouting matched with boys from school but only whilst trying to protect his sisters. Not that Ivy or Isabella needed his protection but he liked to stand up for them.

"Tom said... can't celebrate Christmas... because believe... gay people... can marry" His voice was slightly distorted his swollen lip was obviously affecting him.

"So you punched him?" You could see his knuckles were bruised and swollen.

He nodded.

"He... much bigger... punched... back."

"So I can see!" You crouched down in front of your son, taking his swollen hand in to yours. Gently checking it over. "Listen Josh, there are some people in the world that will have opinions that are wrong, and that you don't agree with, but you do not punch people, it's not nice."

Josh nodded and the headteacher went on to explain that, although Josh was morally right, he had started the fight and would be suspended for the final 5 days of the school term. The other boy had also been excluded for Homophobic comments.

As you walked out of the school to the car park you continued to check over his hand, at least one knuckled appeared to be broken. His swollen eye and lip were slowly going down.

"Your mother is going to kill you, you know? Getting yourself in to fights and getting yourself suspended. But I reckon Cian and Lorenzo will be incredibly proud of you. I'm proud of you for standing up for what you believe in, I just don't think you went about making your point in the right way. Don't be surprised if Lorenzo gives you a present for this!"

* * *

**22****nd**** March 2038**

**12:58pm**

Your last full day of work. Both of you. It was great. Both you and Nikki were going part time as of tomorrow. Neither of you could give it up completely; you both loved your jobs too much. You loved the Lyell Centre, the staff, the atmosphere, the cases. You couldn't leave if you tried. Especially now Ivy was starting a 4 month rotation with you.

It was nice to have your daughter home. She'd been doing her rotations in Newcastle up until now. Josh particularly loved having her home, he loved his big sister so much. He'd missed having her around, especially seeing as Jamie and Isabella were both finishing the final year of their degrees and neither had been home since Christmas.

Ivy and Josh got on so well, better than Josh had with Isabella, but really all your children got on quite well. It was great that they got on so well, especially as you were leaving Josh with Ivy whilst you took Nikki on a surprise romantic weekend away to Venice in a couple of weeks time.

London could be such a dull city, so grey and miserable, especially over the winter. So to get away would be lovely, especially after the last couple of months. Nikki had been so stressed recently. Leo had been battling cancer, and was given the all clear just last week. It was hard watching Leo being so ill. Nikki looked at him like her Dad, he was so close to her. She felt like she was losing her parents all over again, especially when she noticed Janet's memory wasn't what it used to be anymore.

Promise and William had also struggled; they were only a few months older than Ivy. Nikki had spent a lot of time with them, comforting them and helping their father as much as she could. You loved Nikki to pieces, so seeing her so upset and stressed was horrible for you too. You'd been holding not only Nikki but the whole

family together. That's why you were looking forward to this holiday so much. You could escape and relax for a couple of days. You could just be together, you could spoil her, just show her how much you loved her.

The phone rang. Both you and Nikki looked up at the same time. It was Nikki's turn to answer the phone, you knew that. Yet you still went to grab it. Nikki managed to get in first though. You stuck your tongue out at her as she answered in her "posh phone voice" as you called it. You'd always teased her about that. She spoke full on posh, queens English when she spoke on the phone, or when she was angry (although you tried not to make her angry too often). She hated it but you thought it was rather endearing.

Her expression quickly changed though, from giggly and smiling to something you couldn't quite read. Maybe anger, maybe sadness, maybe worry. A series of hmms and yeahs followed before she told whoever was on the phone that we would be right there.

"A scene?" You asked, hoping that it wasn't, hoping that you'd be able to go home when your shift was meant to end at 2:30.

"No, Cian, he said Lorenzo had found Josh crying on their doorstep about half an hour ago, and he won't tell them what's wrong."

Josh had always been your difficult child. The others had all had their phases of causing trouble, playing up and throwing tantrums. But Josh, who was almost 16 now, had always had problems. You and Nikki had always found it difficult to get through to him. From aged about 4 he was very independent and not keen on being with his friends. He never particularly enjoyed playing football and rugby; he much more enjoyed curling up with a book or being on his own. It worried you slightly when he was younger but he seemed to be growing in to himself now. None of that had meant you loved him any less though. He was your little solider even though he was so grown up now. After Nikki had miscarried twice you didn't think you'd have another baby, you stopped even trying and then Josh came along and it was perfect.

You and Nikki arrived at Cian and Lorenzo's house in less than 5 minutes. It was meant to take longer than that, but you drove ridiculously fast. It wasn't the end of the world if you got a speeding ticket, your son came first.

Nikki used the spare key under the pot on their front porch, it was meant for emergencies, but in some ways that was what this was.

Walking in to their living room, Nikki pulled your son in to her arms, trying to comfort him. She looked so small next to his rugby player sized body. He'd been scouted for London Irish to play if he wanted to but he'd turned it down, insisting he wanted to pursue a career as a doctor in the RAF. To see your youngest so upset was heartbreaking.

Lorenzo pulled you in to the kitchen.

"Harry..." You knew it was serious when he didn't call you Hottie or Hot Stuff, "...He's been crying like that for almost an hour now. And all I've managed to get out of him is something to do with Ivy knowing something, he won't say anything else."

"Thanks, for looking after him, he looks up to you and Cian so much, thank you for being there for him." You told Lorenzo, as you walked back in to the living room, planting a kiss on both your son's and wife's head.

You left Nikki to comfort and cuddle Josh, to try and find out what was wrong, whilst you went to find Ivy.

"Ivy, sweetheart? Are you home?" You called out as you entered your house. You hoped she was here so you didn't have to go searching for her elsewhere.

"In the kitchen, Dad." She called back.

You found her sitting at the breakfast bar in your kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee. She was the spitting image of her mother, just with dark hair.

"Ivy? Do you know why you brother is currently at Cian and Lorenzo's, crying his eyes out? All we've got out of him is your name."

She went on to explain how she had been walking home from Tesco's when she had seen Josh walking home with someone, another boy from school she thought. She'd followed about 20 or 30 metres behind him just watching, interested to see her brother with a friend. When they'd reached the house, the two boys had hugged and the other boy kissed Josh on the cheek. Josh blushed and quickly ran inside. Once inside Ivy had gone up to Josh's room to say hello only to find him watching pornography on his laptop. He'd seen her standing at his door open mouthed. He'd slammed his laptop shut and ran, knocking her out of the way.

"Ahh, well don't say anything to him, please?" You could understand his reaction. Firstly he hadn't come out to his family at all, though you and Nikki had had an inkling that he was gay for a while. "He was very upset, Ivy, I know it wasn't you fault. You just need to let him tell us in his own time."

Ivy nodded, tears in her eyes. She understood that Josh needed time.

* * *

**June 2****nd**** 2041**

**8:00pm**

Today is Josh's 19th and yesterday he had received his results telling him that he had passed his first year of medical school at Imperial College London. He'd followed in his father's footsteps, making you so proud. That was two Cunningham men that had now trained at Imperial. What was even better was that he had received an RAF scholarship as one of the top air cadets in the country. So all his university expenses' were paid for him.

Tonight you were going out for a meal. You, Nikki, Ivy, her fiancée, Jamie, Isabella, Leo, Janet, Will, Promise, Lorenzo, Cian, Anna-Maria and of course Josh. You wished your Mum was still here so she could celebrate with you. But she had died last year, a heart attack in the middle of the night, other than that she had been perfectly healthy.

So here you were, the 14 of you, sitting around a large table in the Kowloon Kitchen, it brought back lovely old memories. You had just toasted to Josh, to many more happy years and even greater successes. Josh stood up, as if to make a speech himself.

"Umm... Hi. Thank you everyone for coming, It's really lovely to have my whole family here, especially great to see you Leo, you're looking much better. But I have something to tell you, rather someone I'd like you to meet. Obviously not today because you lot would scare him off." You did notice the use of the male pronoun. So finally he was telling you. It had taken him a good couple of years!

"His name is Nigel" You giggled, Nikki laughed too, you remember working with Nigel back before you and Nikki got together. You and her had both thought that he was gay, he'd turned down many advances from women in the past.

"We've been dating for a couple of months now, he's lovely and I know you'll like him."

Lorenzo cheered, high-fiving your son and hugging him.

"Well we couldn't get your Dad to bat for our team, but you're even better! Is your boyfriend hot? I hope he's hot!"

"Fucking hot!" Josh agreed, mocking Lorenzo, knowing the tale of how you and he had first met all those years ago.

"Language, Joshua Leo Cunningham!" Nikki scolded but she couldn't keep the smirk off her face.

"I'm proud of you, Josh. But you've taken your time telling us! I've known since you were 15, and I've thought as much since you were even younger than that!" You teased him as you hugged him. His cousins and siblings also hugged him.

Ivy, in particular, hugged him very tightly, whispering something in to his ear. Josh swotted her arm, laughing.

Your family felt complete.

* * *

**I hope you liked it! Happy (late) Birthday Charlotte!**

**Lizzi  
xxx**


End file.
